MOT Cost Cutting discussion

Ebe_Scrooge

RugbyChick82 said:

I've just looked up my local council MOT centre and it is saying that I would have to pay £54... I thought these were free centres? 

Where did you get that idea ?  No, they will charge the full official fee of £54.85, no more and almost always no less.  The advantage of the council MOT is that they only do MOTs, not repairs, so they've no incentive to make up fictitious repairs that need doing.  Though if you're lucky enough to find a trustworthy local mechanic/independent garage, you'll probably find they also charge the full MOT fee, but you have the convenience of them being able to do any - genuine and necessary - repairs at the same time.

bigadaj

RugbyChick82 said:

I've just looked up my local council MOT centre and it is saying that I would have to pay £54... I thought these were free centres? 

You'd never get a booking if they were free!

[Deleted User]

All this that garages fail your car to drum up business is bull. Yes there are dodgy garages about (just like every sector) but there are plenty, if not more, that are well known and honest who get plenty of work from word of mouth without having to make up MOT fails. And they still charge less than the £54.85 Gov fee.

AdrianC

RugbyChick82 said:

I've just looked up my local council MOT centre and it is saying that I would have to pay £54... I thought these were free centres? 

They're maintenance centres run by the local authority to test their own vehicles. The MOT rules say that any test centre has to accept bookings from anybody...

They're not a subsidised service to the general public...

The one time I tried a council-run centre, they made it VERY obvious they didn't want me there, and proceeded to hand me a fail sheet a mile long with all sorts of spurious guff. I took it elsewhere the next day, and it passed. I took the hint, and will never bother any council test centre again.

gobbledyg00k

Regarding the list of test centres region by region - London...
1) the phone for Kings Cross (Camden) seems to be on permanent hold (I waited for 18 mins). Their website says they're not accepting new MOT bookings until C19 guidelines change 
2) Barnet address and phone number are incorrect. They should be Oakleigh Depot, Oakleigh Road South, London, N11 1HJ, 020 8359 5103

seatbeltnoob

I took my wifes car for a free MOT 2 years ago, halfords offered free MOT on any vehicle with any purchase. I bought a £4 back to black gel and redemmed the offer.

The mot tester was ruthless with looking for faults. It had passed MOT without advisories before and after this mot, but it's clear the tester was probably under pressure to find faults because it was a free test,

Here are the advisories:

• Front Items removed from driver's view prior to test ()
• oil leak
• Brake pedal wearing smooth (1.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
• Offside Rear slight damage to rear light unit but not showing and white light

Oil leak is nothout out the ordinarty and very little based on the oil loss observed between oil changes. Brake pedal wear is a completel joke. I don't know what to make of the offside rear light slight damage, it's fine to me.

NottinghamKnight

seatbeltnoob said:

I took my wifes car for a free MOT 2 years ago, halfords offered free MOT on any vehicle with any purchase. I bought a £4 back to black gel and redemmed the offer.

The mot tester was ruthless with looking for faults. It had passed MOT without advisories before and after this mot, but it's clear the tester was probably under pressure to find faults because it was a free test,

Here are the advisories:

• Front Items removed from driver's view prior to test ()
• oil leak
• Brake pedal wearing smooth (1.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
• Offside Rear slight damage to rear light unit but not showing and white light

Oil leak is nothout out the ordinarty and very little based on the oil loss observed between oil changes. Brake pedal wear is a completel joke. I don't know what to make of the offside rear light slight damage, it's fine to me.

Makes you wonder if the advisories would knock more than £50 off the value of the vehicle.

seatbeltnoob

The car is kept mint. She drives it just 3k miles every year but I just service with my car annually which does 12k miles a year.

It's always had unblemished mot history and this mot just sticks out. 
The oil leak would be a cause for concern. I dont even think there is a leak, the oil was probably spilled when filling up. 

MatthewHutton

Oxford city council has an MOT centre that should be added to the list. The phone number is 00441865335400. The address is ODS
Marsh Road
Oxford
OX4 2HH

they have always been really good.

[Deleted User]

So, who here has recently had their MOT done at a council run depot? What was the outcome? How did you go about getting repairs done and a retest?